Patient Zero: Origins

Now that they are all in the operating theatre, Julia asks nervously, “What is going on?”

Her eyes dart about the room as he takes in sterile overly white and shiny tiled walls and floor. She doesn’t like the space. It’s cold. Not literally but the feeling it gives her is that the space is cold and as a result sends shivers down her spine. It doesn’t matter that there are myriad number of people, including Doctor Fogg, present she still feels alone.

“You’re going to be going through the procedure we’ve spoken about Julia. You know the one which should rid you of your cancer.” Doctor Fogg says as delicately and softly as he can manage, while gazing upon the young girl in her hospital bed with what he approximates are kind eyes.

“I’m scared…” Julia begins before Doctor Fogg adds, “I know, but there is nothing to be scared of Julia.”

“…I want my mummy and daddy.” Julia declares in the heart warming way that only a child can manage.

“I sympathise Julia, I really do. But your parents aren’t here and even if they were they couldn’t be in the room for this.” Doctor Ichabod Fogg utters attempting to reason with the young girl.

“I don’t care. I want my mummy and daddy.” Julia says folding her arms across her chest defiantly before uttering, “Or I refuse the procedure.”

“Come now Julia. This is for your own good. Surely you wouldn’t refuse something that might save your life.” Doctor Fogg again attempts to reason with the nine year old but Julia stands her ground as she blurts, “No.”

It’s as categorical of a refusal as anyone, child or adult, could manage. Not that Timothy Pearson cares as he leans in and quietly questions Ichabod, “What will she remember?”

“Likely nothing of this once we’re done and she comes round.” Ichabod admits.

“Then forge ahead Doctor, the risk is worth the gain. After all, the girl’s wishes are not our concern.” Timothy whispers his demand less than a second after Ichabod finishes speaking.

Doctor Fogg agrees with a subconscious nod before ordering, “Administer the anaesthetic.”

“NOOOOO!” Julia screams at the top of her lungs as she begins to writhe around, weakly, in her bed. It’s her best attempt at struggling and fighting against something she is not willing to partake in without her parents present.

“Look up there.” One of the team says while pointing above Julia’s head.

Instinctively the girl looks up only to see a myriad of needles hanging down from arms above her. Her eyes go wide with fear. Yet, they are not the object she should be focused on or afraid of.

The distraction does however afford the opening that sees the actual needle with anaesthetic in plunged into her vein.

“OW!” Julia explodes in the seconds after having felt the bite of the needle.

However, the young girl manages to say nothing else as her vision quickly blurs barely a second before she begins to feel dizzy and light-headed and then drop into unconsciousness.

With Julia now under anaesthetic, Doctor Fogg breathes a sigh of relief only to quickly then order, “Put her into the injection pod.”

Almost instantly several of the assembled medical garment wearing personnel strip the sheets off of the young girl and then lift her off the bed and into the wide open pod that is wheeled over to them.

They make sure to be careful with the unconscious girl so as not to cause her any undue injuries before then securing her in place with straps. There are four straps in total and they run across Julia’s upper torso including across her arms, midriff and again across her arms, thighs and lower legs. Following that the pod is closed around the gently breathing unconscious child. This means Ichabod is ready to activate a machine that is fastened to the end of the jointed arm which is affixed to the top of the pod. The machine bursts into life, raising and bending its joints until the pod is being held vertically upright.

“Vitals are stable.” One of the Orion Project team declares loudly.

“Confirmed stable.” Another exclaims less than three seconds later only for Doctor Ichabod Fogg to order, “Begin drug administration.”

The pause between the order given by the head of the Orion Projects and the depression of the button is brief, but once the button is depressed twin needles plunge into either side of the pod that surrounds Julia’s body and then into the girls soft skin.

Quickly the needles pump a clear fluid into the girl. But even before the liquid is pumped into Julia she begins to twitch and then once they are done her vitals skyrocket. Alarms roar to life as lights flash red to signify warning or danger.

“What is going on?” Ichabod demands to know over the sound of the klaxon.

“The subject seems to be having an adverse reaction to the cocktail of drugs. We should abort so not to lose the subject.” One of the senior members of the team, Doctor Garth Santos, exclaims sounding more panicked than a man of his experience and years should.

“You will do no such thing. We have to push ahead with the experiment.” Timothy Pearson says without a hint of emotion or remorse for the words that are coming out of his mouth and what they could mean for the young Julia Chantal.

Meanwhile, Ichabod hesitates. Not because Mr Pearson is wrong. He isn’t. At least the CEO of Delta is not wrong in Ichabod’s mind. Instead, his hesitation is to discern as to what should be done to combat Julia’s adverse reactions to the drugs now in her system.

After a fairly short contemplation and seeing no other choice, Ichabod commands sounding less sure than is normal for the man, “Give her more anaesthesia.”

“But that could send her into cardiac arrest.” A junior member of the Orion Project exclaims in shock.

“I said more anaesthesia, now!” Doctor Fogg repeats sounding more like his usual self as he glares in the direction of the junior who dared to argue against his order.

“And if you don’t your career will be ruined, of that much you can be sure.” Are the next words that leak from Ichabod’s mouth.

Unsurprisingly, with the threat issued and taken as damaging as it was meant to be, Julia is given another dose of anaesthetic via a needle that inserts itself through the skin of the pod and into the girls’ neck. Instead, of being administered via her arm as it was previously.

It is at this point that everyone, including Ichabod, is forced to wait with baited breath to see if his order was the right one.

So when Julia’s vitals begin to down back toward normal levels again more than two minutes later, everyone lets out a collective sigh of relief.

Several more minutes pass before the confirmations, both of them, are given to indicate that Julia has stabilised and there seems to be no further adverse reaction.

With that confirmed Ichabod orders, without a hint of hesitation or regret, “Begin the introduction of Compound B-eighty one-F.”

A flurry of button pushes come right after his request and following those a liquid is pumped into the tank that Julia is in. It takes minutes for all of the liquid to be injected into the tank. Once it is complete however, Julia is completely submerged within the liquid that is almost entirely clear in colour. Ichabod smiles broadly and then personally begins the final stage of the procedure when he depresses a button and then pulls a lever downward.

In response another liquid, this one a light yellow colour, floods into the pod where it swiftly begins to mix and then change into a deep purple that makes it impossible for the assembled group to get a view of Julia through the small circular viewport that has been cut into the otherwise unbroken mass of grey. Instead, all they can see is the swirling purple mixture as it dances about wildly.

“Vitals are holding.” Doctor Lisa Decker, another of Ichabod’s senior scientists, says confidently.

However, her declaration comes too soon as less than a split second later Julia screams. Her cries are heard, though muffled by the liquid she is submerged in, from outside the pod and come just as her vitals spike severely.

“What’s going on? You said her vitals were stable.” Ichabod spits accusingly.

“They were but they’ve spiked drastically. It has to be because of the bonding agent.” Doctor Decker replies without taking her green eyes off the readings to look at Ichabod.

“How high?” Ichabod quickly then asks.

“Still climbing but far above what they should be. Maybe six or seven times so far.” Doctor Decker answers before Mr Pearson questions, “How is that possible?”

“I don’t’ know. It shouldn’t be.” Ichabod admits.

“Do something doctor! We can’t afford to lose this subject.” Timothy blurts fearful of what might become of him if this fails. His bosses at Xen Inc are not men and women to be trifled with and there are few things they despise more than failure, other than the loss of capital. And this would very much be both.

Unfortunately, Ichabod does not know what to do and Julia’s continued gurgling screams are not in any way helping to afford him the opportunity to properly consider options that might be available to them. And then the screams stop suddenly, too suddenly, because Julia flatlines.

The singular constant note is haunting and everyone, except for Timothy Pearson, knows exactly what it means. Still, he doesn’t have to know what it means as he instead questions angrily, “What is going on?”

“I don’t know! This never happened during prior testing. The animal subjects never reacted in this manner.” Ichabod blurts before muttering to himself.

“Well DO something doctor!” Mr Pearson urges loudly.

“Adrenaline.” Ichabod announces suddenly before elaborating, “Give her a shot of adrenaline to help kickstart her heart.”

“Without defibrillation it won’t be enough.” Doctor Jon Herbert declares only to be met with a glare from Ichabod and a repetition of the order, this time through gritted teeth.

Mr Pearson nods his confirmation from his position in the back, where he has remained with his arms folded across his chest, to confirm to Doctor Herbert that he should comply with Doctor Fogg’s demand.

Doctor Herbert hesitates for a second longer, but having had confirmation from a man much higher up the food-chain than Doctor Ichabod Fogg, administers the adrenaline as swiftly as is possible when your patient is locked within a bubble filled with an experimental liquid.

Yet, no one is confident that Doctor Fogg’s order will be enough as they stand there waiting for a response. Even if the response is confirmation that Julia Chantal is still unresponsive. Somehow after almost two minutes Julia’s heart bursts back into life.

“We have a pulse.” Doctor Decker declares relieved in the seconds before Doctor Sharon Kruspe, a dark haired, heavily tanned and hazel eyed woman, advises, “Bonding agent is showing full absorption by the patient.”

“Are you sure?” Ichabod asks sceptical, and for good reason seeing as nothing during this procedure has gone as it should have.

“Confirmed.” Two separate junior technicians advise in unison to add credence to Doctor Kruspe’s declaration.

“Drain and open the pod.” Ichabod demands without feeling able to blink until he lays his eyes upon the subject inside.

He no longer trusts the instruments around him or the people manning them. Not because he thinks they are part of some malicious plot but because he has an uneasy feeling that they are in some way malfunctioning and not giving proper or accurate readings.

So when ninety second later when the pod is drained and then opened, everyone stares with baited breath waiting for the vapour to clear. When it does they find Julia lying there, unconscious, her breathing steady and strong as her chest gently rises and falls.

Ichabod has to admit that she already looks healthier than she had before she was administered with the first round of anaesthetic. For that reason alone Ichabod begins to nod to himself, pleased by his success, while Mr Pearson commands, “Keep that child under permanent watch. I don’t want any unfortunate surprises. She’s worth a LOT of money.”

Then Timothy sidles up to Doctor Fogg, claps him on the shoulder, a broad smile split across his face as he utters, “Congratulations Ichabod, the procedure was a success.”